Sunday, May 22, 2011

So this past week was pretty hectic with two HSA's (High School Assessment, a 3 hour test required for graduation) and the fact that teachers put caution tape everywhere, blocking off half of a wing so as not to distract the test takers.

When HSAs roll around, my web design class gets kicked out of the computer lab. I find class enjoyable even when we aren't using the computers because the teacher shows us cool videos about things aren't directly related to our lessons. In the lab we're learning about tools in designing web pages, like Flash or Dreamweaver; but in the random classrooms we're moved to we learn about the future of the internet and what it means for us.

Personally I find the internet astounding. So much knowledge and information that can be utilized almost instantly. It's so helpful too, connecting people around the world. Looking at my stats page, I'm still surprised that 22 people in Iran, 9 people in Ukraine, and 6 people in Indonesia visited my blog in the past month. Donovan Leitch, one of my idols, said that the internet is the new 60's.

"The dream of the ’60s, of me and John Lennon and the others, was: How do we speak to everybody on the planet at the same time? The first answer was via satellite, but that didn’t connect to everyone. Then John would say, ‘How about telepathy?' Then we forgot about it until now we realize that the Internet fulfills that dream of communicating with everyone. I’m not afraid of the Internet because it’s that the dream we had. The Internet is the new ’60s as far as I’m concerned."

The Internet has produced many an amazing thing, like WikiLeaks, the hacking organization known as Anonymous, and Facebook which helped the protesters in Egypt. And god knows I'd be lost without Google (I wouldn't even have a blog!). And lately Chrome, the web browser owned by Google, has been putting out commercials that highlight the many fine qualities of Chrome and other things Google owns (Gmail, YouTube, Picasa)

I use Chrome and I love it. It's super fast and the address bar doubles as a Google search bar. And Gmail is awesome too. I can chat with my friends and add cool labs, like one where I can undo sending a message up to 5 seconds after sending it.

Without the internet we wouldn't have been as connected as we are now in the world. The HSAs would take forever without the internet. When I talked to the admissions counselor at the community college, he said computer science has many areas and you got to find your niche. I think I've found my niche right here, with the internet.

P.S. I'm not writing this just because I'm so happy my internet came back on. I'm writing it because I'm angry I missed my web design class because of HSA testing.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

It's amazing what fun you can have without the internet.

Yesterday the internet was gone for the whole evening, and since I had no homework I had nothing to do. When I got home I took a 3 hour long nap and ate a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream with my mom after she woke me up.

I typed up a spreadsheet for my dad and downloaded a bunch of music to my mp3 player. My mom and I tried a "face smoothie" to hydrate our skin. We mixed together a banana, a cup of yogurt, a tablespoon of honey, and two tablespoons of rolled oats in a blender and let it soak our faces for 15 minutes before we rinsed it off. Our skin seemed more irritated than hydrated, but you live and learn.

After I played tetris on my cell phone for what felt like hours, I had an idea to install some floppy disks I found of Richard Scarry's Busytown. Unfortunately they didn't work too well and my mom and I were disappointed. Also, she noticed me scratch a red spot on my arm and said it was poison ivy. I insisted it wasn't since it wasn't itchy anymore, and I even put some poison ivy cream on it. Sure enough, today it is way small, less red, and not itchy at all.

In other unrelated news, I have taken to the couch again since a spider appeared on my ceiling last night. Armed with anything I could find on my bunk bed, I threw odd projectiles at it, ranging in size from cough drops to college books. I finally gave up the fight and retreated to the living room.